Record Offers Few Clues To Verdict

Man `Not Guilty` Of Beating Cop

March 09, 1986|By Joseph R. Tybor and Mark Eissman.

The recent case of Michael Colella, whose surprise acquittal in the beating of a Chicago policewoman sparked the transfer of a criminal court judge, was unlike most trials where opposing attorneys vigorously contest the version of events, an examination of the trial transcript shows.

Robert Cooley, Colella`s attorney, did not dispute testimony that Colella, armed with an iron bar, beat Officer Cathy Touhy with his fist at least eight times, threatened to kill her and told a nurse shortly after the beating that he had an ``allergic reaction to pigs.``

The 115-page transcript of the Feb. 26 trial of Colella, a 28-year-old Elmwood Park baker, on charges of attempted murder and aggravated battery shows the following:

-- The two sides disagreed only about why Colella acted the way he did, not about what he did.

-- Except for speculation by Colella`s attorney that his client was drugged, there is no apparent explanation for the ruling by Judge Lawrence Passarella, who acquitted Colella.

-- On the key point of Colella`s state of mind, Cooley raised the possibility that Colella`s beating of Touhy was involuntary because Colella was drugged, but offered little supporting testimony. Prosecutor Henry Lazzaro disputed the theory.

After the three-hour trial, Passarella issued a ruling of ``not guilty,`` but gave no explanation. He has since declined to provide reasons for his decision, saying judicial ethics prohibit him from doing so.

Cook County State`s Atty. Richard Daley has asked Chief Judge Harry Comerford to investigate the case, and Passarella said he has asked that Comerford transfer him out of the criminal division.

Prosecutors say the case illustrates the need for a law that would give the state the right to request a jury trial, as prosecutors are allowed to do in federal court. State law gives defendants, but not prosecutors, the right to request a jury trial or a trial by a judge. Prosecutors believe that juries may be more likely than some judges to convict a defendant.

The beating occurred at about 2:30 a.m. Dec. 31, 1984, after Touhy stopped Colella for driving the wrong way down a one-way street. She ordered him out of the car and began a pat-down search. According to her testimony, Colella turned on her and a fight ensued. By the time it was over, about a dozen officers had converged on the scene.

Touhy`s injuries eventually required her to undergo plastic surgery. A second officer and Colella required hospital treatment.

At the trial Colella, his girlfriend and his girlfriend`s brother testified on Colella`s behalf that they and four others went out drinking the night of Dec. 30, 1984.

Colella testified he had four or five beers to drink at Kingston Mines Chicago Blues Center, on the North Side. He said he felt ``pretty normal``

when they drove to another bar, Exit Club, at about 12:30 a.m. He said he had a ``couple`` of drinks and ``a shot`` and then met some people whom he had not known previously.

The new acquaintances, one of whom Colella identified only as ``Tanker or Tattoo,`` bought Colella one or two drinks called kamikazis, made with vodka, lime juice and a fruit liqueur. The man, whom Colella said had tattoos up and down his arms, never testified.

Colella said he remembers nothing after drinking the kamikazis until he woke up in a hospital with cuts on his face and stitches in his head.

The only explanation at the trial for Colella`s injuries came from James Semmler, the first police officer to arrive on the scene after Touhy radioed for help. He testified for the prosecution that he struck Colella over the head with his night stick in an attempt to subdue him.

Colella`s claim that he was drugged was based solely on testimony that he underwent a behavioral change, marked by silence, as the night wore on.

Emily Ursini, who said she had known Colella for seven years, testified he left the bar without explanation at about 2 a.m.

She and her brother, Michael, testified that Colella became silent before he left the bar. She said he had never before left her in a bar when they were out on a date.

Cooley asked Emily Ursini how Colella looked shortly before 2 a.m.

``Kind of strange,`` she answered.

``What do you mean by strange?`` he asked

``Just the way he was acting. His personality was different as far as earlier in the night.``

``Do you know what caused that personality change?``

``No,`` she answered.

Colella and the Ursinis testified that they had not been using drugs.

Michael Ursini said that when Colella left the Exit Club, he drove his car across a sidewalk.

A short time later, Colella was stopped by Touhy on Parkside Avenue and Augusta Boulevard.

She testified that as Colella turned on her, he threatened to kill her. Then, she said, Colella hit her in the head with his fist, knocking her to the ground and pinned her body down with his knees. She said he held the bar in one hand and kept hitting her with both fists. Then he grabbed her hair and bounced her head on the street four times, Touhy testified.

A couple of hours after the incident, prosecution testimony showed, Colella admitted striking Touhy, an allegation that wasn`t disputed by Cooley. In August, Touhy was awarded $100,000 in damages after she filed a lawsuit against Colella in the beating, court records show. Colella was served with a copy of the complaint in June, but he failed to respond to it, court records show.